Truth, Justice, and the American Way
by writer writing
Summary: How often do we take our freedoms for granted?


May 10, 2018 was the day Clark Kent and Lois Lane turned in their press passes forever.

They weren't the first ones to go. Perry White had left the year before and Chloe the year before that. Jimmy was still going to work at the Daily Planet as a photographer while he could, because he needed the money. Clark and Lois, who were married at this point, had saved enough to last them until they found another job.

Clark and Lois had stayed so long because they believed in fighting it out. That's what good journalists were supposed to do. They were supposed to fight for freedom of the press, but they'd had enough and were fighting a losing battle.

It was amazing how quickly things changed.

When Lois started working at the Inquisitor, you could be as free as you wanted. You could write about Big Foot or the latest nut, who said the end was near. In fact, Lois thought it had been a little too free. She didn't think that now. Of course, the Inquisitor was a rag. Legitimate papers like the Daily Planet had always required evidence and editor approval, but it had still been fairly free.

Clark had undoubtedly seen changes in how they presented him in the papers. At the start of his career as Superman, he had been portrayed in a positive light. He fought for 'truth, justice, and the American way' the papers often said. Now those same papers said he was little more than a criminal because of those same ideals. They didn't say it in those words, but it's what they hinted at. He had stopped wearing the bright costume and fighting out in the open. It was too dangerous. The government threatened to shoot him down with kryptonite if they saw him, but he helped when he could.

The real trouble had started in 2008, when the first real law against freedom of speech and exercise of religion had been enacted. Perhaps though it had started much earlier than that. A relatively small but present portion of Americans had gotten a petition together and taken it to the FCC. The changes meant the word of God could not be preached or shared on TV or radio. It hadn't seemed like that big of a deal at the time. Sure there was a thing called a power button and another button to change the channel. It really only affected Christians, but if they wanted to hear preaching, they could go to church. No big deal. Of course, soon shows that mentioned God or Christmas were taken off the air and there were very few shows that didn't in some form or fashion. Again so what? You could view it in the privacy of your home.

It hadn't stopped there. It kept snow balling. No talking about religion in public or even wearing religious symbols. Soon any and every religion was restricted to homes and churches. Certainly the papers couldn't carry editorials against this practice. That would be putting religion into the public domain and it was all under the name of not offending someone.

It had really made Lois angry. She wasn't the most religious person in the world, but she believed in having the right to be religious if she ever wanted to be. Clark hadn't been angry. It wasn't his style. He was disappointed, mainly in himself for letting this get too far. What could he do now? His powers wouldn't help this and he wasn't a politician. It was so easy to take your freedoms for granted.

Unfortunately, it hadn't stopped here either. In 2017, it was illegal everywhere in the world to have any sort of religion. The government was the only god allowed. Lois had joined an underground church with Clark. It was the first time she had gone to church since her mother took her to mass as a child.

They hadn't stopped working at the Planet though, despite the fact it was a religion-free zone. They thought it was still important to have a voice in the world.

The religion-free world had united into one big world dictatorship. It was how all great dictatorships started, wasn't it? Cuba, Russia, the medieval church, all of them had one thing in common. They must stop the exchange of ideas and crush the hope that came from religion.

Lois and Clark knew it was only a matter of time before there became only one world paper and they were too much of freethinkers to be selected for that. They wanted journalists, who would write what they were told to write by the corrupt government. Clark and Lois needed to find new jobs, while there were jobs to find.

Maybe they could have done something early on or maybe it was an unavoidable course of events, but what's done was done.

They lovingly fingered their press passes, remembering when it had stood for something. It was before the Constitution and especially the first amendment had become an idealistic piece of paper of times gone by. They handed their passes to security and left the Daily Planet for the last time with their heads held high.

They didn't know what lay ahead, but it wasn't truth, it wasn't justice, and it wasn't the American way.

The End


End file.
